The vowel sounds pt. 1

The Swedish vowel system may be a little bit complex for those whom aren't used to it.
I hope I will be a lot of help for you.

Let's start with the sounds of the front vowels:

E is the letter which carries most sounds. Its pronounciation depends on whether it's stressed or not and whether it's the only letter in a word.
[eː] Whenever the letter is stressed. For example, redigering [rɛdiɧeːriŋ] (editing)
The letter É always have this sound.
[ə] One of the letters used when unstressed. It's usually in words with two syllables, such as pojke [pojkə] (boy)
[ɛ] Whenever the letter has this sound, it means that it's the only letter of the word. The word also ends with a double consonant at the end, which we will talk more about an another lesson.
Also, this letter occurs when an unstressed E is put in a word consisting of three or more syllables. Whenever E is the stressed vowel in a word when put behind double consonants, it's pronounced ɛ. For example, Pelle [pɛlə]
NOTE: Whenever ɛ is spelled with E, it's always short.

I has two sounds which changes due to the length of the letter.
[iː] This is the long sound which occurs whenever I is stressed and put behind a single consonant. For example, bil [biːl] car.
[ɪ] This sound occurs when I is not stressed and when put behind double consonants. The sound may occur when I is stressed but then it has to be a two syllable word and it has to be put before double consonants. For example, pilla [pɪla] pick/poke.

Y works just like I, only that you change [iː] to [yː] and [ɪ] to [ʏ] and follow the rules of the letter I.
Syl [syːl] awl
Syll [sʏl] sleeper (railroad)
Ü is used in some words and lastnames instead of Y. It's then always short [ʏ]. Müsli [mʏslɪ] muesli.

Ä works just like I and Y. Just change [yː] to [æː] and [ɪ] to [ɛ] and follow the rules of the letter Y.
Ärlig [æːɭɪg] honest
Hända [hɛnda] happen (infinitive)

Ö is a letter which has two sounds but nowadays no difference is made between the two.
Öra [œːra] ear
The obsolete sound which isn't used anymore: Öl [øːl] beer
[œ] used to represent a short Ö but now it's also a long Ö.

That's all for now. Next time we will talk about the back vowels.